Download Print Semifinal Appearance for Enders’ Mopar Performance Dodge Dart at Las Vegas NHRA Nationals Enders drives Mopar Performance Dodge Dart to Pro Stock semifinal appearance at 17th annual NHRA Nationals in Las Vegas No. 1 seed Beckman and the Infinite Hero Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car see day cut short with quarterfinal loss Capps and the DSR Dodge Charger R/T sit third in the Funny Car points standings despite missing eliminations April 3, 2016 , Las Vegas - A semifinal appearance by Elite Motorsports driver Erica Enders and her Mopar Performance Dodge Dart GT at the 17th annual National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Nationals might not be nearly as good as a visit to the winner’s circle, but it does feels like a small victory for the two-time defending Pro Stock world champion after a rough start to the 2016 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season. After posting her best qualifying performance thus far this season to position herself fifth on the eliminations ladder, Enders finally brought an end to her unusual streak of first round losses to start the season by posting a stellar .009-second reaction time and running solid 6.767-second lap at 204.42 miles per hour against Aaron Strong to turn the win lights on for the first time this year. Enders had another lightning quick .006-second start in the quarterfinals to give her a holeshot win over Drew Skillman with a 6.845 sec/204.70 mph lap to her opponent’s quicker 6.807/204.01 pass, propelling her into the semifinals against Pro Stock points leader, Jason Line. While the two-time defending winner at Las Vegas was disappointed to see her day end with a loss to Line who went on to win the national title, Enders was bolstered by the seeing the continued efforts of her team finally reap some benefits. “It was really nice to just be able to go rounds,” Enders said. “Winning doesn’t define us. I think you find out what real champions are made of when you have to go through a little bit of adversity and it makes you dig deeper and want it more. We’ve certainly made strides in the right direction with our engine development program. We proved that on the race track during qualifying. “I think we have things pointed in the right direction and we certainly have a lot of work left to do but a semifinal appearance here in Las Vegas was definitely awesome. It was a good points day for us and now we just have to get back to the shop and work on these awesome HEMIs and go to Charlotte renewed, refreshed and ready to win a race.” Enders’ Elite Motorsports teammate Jeg Coughlin Jr. had a much more challenging weekend than he would have preferred, qualifying his “Magneti Marelli Offered by Mopar” /JEGS.com Dodge Dart 13th on the ladder with just two full passes, battling mechanical issues, and seeing his day cut short by a first round loss to Drew Skillman. Despite the setbacks, Coughlin remains optimistic about the development of their new electronic fuel injection era Pro Stock. "We know it's all here," Coughlin said. "I've got faith in the Elite Performance group. We've got a pile of parts we'll take back with us to the shop in Oklahoma, and they'll be like CSI investigators, taking a look at this stuff piece by piece and part by part. They're very intimate with it, and I know they'll come up with a solution. We hustled from the time we showed up here on Friday until right now. The team was behind the 8-ball, as we struggled with some engine issues. We just couldn't quite overcome them.” After qualifying tenth, Allen Johnson advanced his Marathon Petroleum Dodge Dart GT into the quarterfinals with straight run down the track for a win over Alex Laughlin to meet up with Greg Anderson. Johnson improved with a solid lap at 6.754/204.45 but it wasn’t quite enough to beat Anderson’s 6.725/205.66. “We’re getting better and better every race,” Johnson said. “We need a few more ponies (horsepower) and we’ve got some things working at the shop right now that’ll come into play the next few weeks.” No. 11 qualifier Deric Kramer earned a first round win with a 6.775/204.29 run in his Dodge Dart to beat Vincent Nobile’s 6.800/205.22, then was quicker on the start against Bo Butner in the second round but severe tire shake ended his hopes of advancing any further. The HEMI-powered Dodge Dart of V. Gaines lost his first round battle against Bo Butner. In Funny Car action, after Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) driver Jack Beckman earned his third No. 1 Qualifier position of the year to extend the Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car’s consecutive streak of pole positions to four this season, he kicked things off with a 4.081 second pass at 299.53 on a hot track to beat Terry Haddock who hazed the tires right off the start. Beckman’s quarterfinal run against Chad Head didn’t go quite as well after the Mopar driver had to peddle it and didn’t recover quickly enough. "We have to keep picking away at it," said Beckman who sits fifth in points. "This car has been finicky on hot tracks. If we raced under cool conditions, I'm not sure anyone could beat us. We've been great at getting green hats this year. That's what you get for being the No. 1 qualifier. We want the yellow hat - that's the one you get for winning the final round." Qualified 10th with a pair of three-second runs, DSR’s Matt Hagan and his Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger R/T had a good start to his first round match-up against John Force before being hampered by the loss of a cylinder. Force got past him but had a problem of his own, setting up a close finish that saw Hagan’s 4.061/308.07 get edged at the line by his opponent’s 4.059/300.40 mph run. “That was one of the closest rounds of the day,” Hagan said. “We just came out on the backside of it. A close race is great for our fans, but I just want to be the winner.” Fellow DSR driver Tommy Johnson Jr. and his Make-A-Wish Dodge Charger R/T was seeded 11th and despite a starting line advantage and respectable 4.073 second run (308.85 mph) in the opening round, it wasn’t enough to beat Alexis DeJoria’s 4.006/313.00, who then went on to work her way through the field to earn her fourth career national title. Sitting on the sidelines for eliminations was Ron Capps who arrived in Las Vegas second in the Funny Car standings after taking his DSR Dodge Charger R/T to a win in the season opener at Pomona, a No. 1 Qualifier position in Phoenix and a runner-up finish at Gainesville, but wasn’t able to put together a full lap in four attempts to qualify his Dodge Charger R/T. Despite missing race day, Capps still leads the Dodge contingent with his third place spot in the points. The next race event will be the Lowes Foods 7th Annual NHRA Four-Wide Nationals, the fifth of 24 events on the 2016 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season schedule, at zMax Dragway near Charlotte, N.C. on April 22-24. Television coverage of the event will be available on FS1 with a two hour qualifying show on Saturday, April 23 at 10 p.m. (ET) and a three hour eliminations broadcast scheduled for Sunday, April 24 starting at 4:30 p.m. ET. 2016 NHRA Championship Points Standings (Following the Las Vegas NHRA Nationals Race Final) PRO STOCK (season wins in parentheses) 1. Jason Line – 463 (2) 2. Greg Anderson – 415 (2) 3. Bo Butner – 331 4. Drew Skillman – 264 5. Chris McGaha – 214 6. Allen Johnson – Dodge Dart – 212 7. Jeg Coughlin Jr. – Dodge Dart – 191 8. Vincent Nobile – 175 9. Erica Enders – Dodge Dart – 171 10. Alex Laughlin – 152 FUNNY CAR (season wins in parentheses) 1. Robert Hight – 341 (1) 2. John Force – 294 3. Ron Capps – (Dodge Charger R/T) – 289 (1) 4. Del Worsham – 283 5. Jack Beckman – (Dodge Charger R/T) – 271 6. Courtney Force – 265 7. Chad Head – 162 8. Alexis DeJoria – 119 (1) 9. Tim Wilkerson – 183 10. Matt Hagan – (Dodge Charger R/T) – 118 11. Tommy Johnson Jr. – (2015 Dodge Charger R/T) – 117 About Mopar Motorsports The Mopar brand’s commitment to professional motorsports competition was established in the 1950s when a partnership ignited with drag racing pioneer Don Garlits, resulting in the breaking of numerous speed and performance barriers in HEMI®-powered vehicles over the next several decades. In 2016, Mopar will look to once again vie for a NHRA World Championship title in both Pro Stock and Funny Car categories. While Mopar remains involved in a various professional motorsports series, it continues to honor its roots by being a proud supporter of Sportsman racing within the NHRA with its sponsorship of the HEMI Challenge and Mopar’s Tom Hoover Sportsman Challenge. About Mopar Brand Mopar (a simple contraction of the words MOtor and PARts) was trademarked in 1937 with the launch of an antifreeze product, but it truly made its mark in the 1960s during the muscle-car era. From Mopar Performance Parts to enhance speed and handling for both road and racing use, the brand soon expanded to include technical service and customer support. Today, Mopar is FCA’s service, parts and customer-care brand and distributes more than 500,000 parts and accessories in over 150 markets around the world. With more than 50 parts distribution centers and 27 customer-contact hubs globally, Mopar integrates service, parts and customer-care operations in order to enhance dealer and customer support worldwide. Mopar is the source for genuine parts and accessories for FCA brands. Mopar parts are engineered together with the same teams that create factory-authorized specifications for FCA vehicles. This offers a direct connection that no other aftermarket parts company can provide. A complete list of Mopar accessories and performance parts is available at www.mopar.com. NHRA Mopar Enders Vegas